Category Archives: Bois de La Cambre

Tuesday 27th November 2018 – WHEN I TOLD …

potatomat everberg belgium eric hall… some friends of mine in Québec about this, they burst out laughing.

And it wasn’t about the crazy idea either, but in total disbelief that this place (and a few others of similar ilk) would exist.

But seeing that Alison and I were out and about in the vicinity this afternoon, we went off to track it down and to photograph it.

potatomat everberg belgium eric hallBecause it’s the kind of thing that you would only ever find in Belgium, and no-where else.

We have automatic machines that dispense drinks, and snacks, and even pizza these days, but only in Belgium would you find an automatic machine that would dispense potatoes.

So say “hello” to a Belgian Potatomat here on the outskirts of Everberg.

potatomat everberg belgium eric hallThe potatomat doesn’t just sell potatoes either.

There were apples and pears on offer, and even chicory too. And it looks as if, with a little bit of simple configuration, it could be programmed to sell a lot more different things too.

It has to be the automatic vending machine to end all other automatic vending machines.

This morning the alarm went off at the usual time but, after having done almost 150% of my daily activity yesterday, there wasn’t much danger of my leaving my stinking pit at that time.

07:15 was a much more respectable time for me to heave myself out.

After medication and breakfast, there were things to do on the laptop and that took me most of the morning.

Alison sent me a message round about 11:30. Did I fancy going out for a couple of hours? And so 15 minutes later I was standing on the corner, watching all the girls go by.

We passed by the Potatomat and then headed into Brussels. Alison took me to show me to a place where she had once lived, and then we went for a look at the offices of that weird American company where we had both worked together 12 years ago.

chateau robinson bois de la cambre brussels belgium eric hallSeeing that we were down in the south end of Brussels, we decided that we would go for a walk in the Bois de la Cambre.

Alison hadn’t been round here particularly but back in the good old days when I lived in Brussels I used to come here for a walk every Sunday with Marianne

And so I decided to show her around.

chateau robinson bois de la cambre brussels belgium eric hallIt was quite a misty afternoon and reasonably cold too, although not as cold as it might have been.

And we were somewhat too late for the leaves. We should really have been here a couple of weeks ago to see it at its best.

By now, the leaves had gone beyond changing colours and were now tumbling rapidly from the leaves and carpeting the forest floor

chateau robinson bois de la cambre brussels belgium eric hallAlison didn’t know about the Chateau Robinson on the island in the middle of the lake.

But despite the time of the year, the restaurant was open and the shuttle boat was running across the lake to the island

There were several people waiting to cross over, and so we decided to join them and go to have a coffee.

chateau robinson bois de la cambre brussels belgium eric hallAlthough they didn’t have soya milk, they did actually have almond milk.

And even more interestingly, they also had gluten-free flour and so they offered to make Alison some lactose-free and gluten-free pancakes.

They tasted differently, apparently, but Alison said that they were very nice. And, for a change, the chef came out to ask her if they were okay. Clearly a new experiment, but it’s certainly progress.

chateau robinson bois de la cambre brussels belgium eric hallAfter the coffee and pancakes we carried on with our walk.

We took the ferry back to the mainland and walked all the way around the lake and back to the car.

It was much more pleasant by now. The sun was doing its best to struggle through the mist and we were even starting to see some blue sky.

chateau robinson bois de la cambre brussels belgium eric hallWhile you continue to admire the photos of the Bois de la Cambre, we had other things to do.

Because we were down this end of the town we decided that we would go to pay our respects to Marianne. The Cimetierre d’Ixelles wasn’t all that far away and I hadn’t been to see her for a while.

It’s quite a poignant thing to do, and hard to believe that it was over five and a half years ago that she went off to meet her Maker

chateau robinson bois de la cambre brussels belgium eric hallWe wandered off from there out in the direction of Leuven, hoping to miss the afternoon traffic rush.

And I missed a photo opportunity as we were driving past a garage on the corner of the Chaussee de Wavre.

There parked up at the back of the parking area was a dark green first-series Triumph Vitesse 6 convertible. These are as rare as hen’s teeth in the UK. the chance of seeing one parked up here at a backstreet garage in Brussels are amazing.

chateau robinson bois de la cambre brussels belgium eric hallWe reached Tervuren and Alison took me to a café where there was an open fire and a good supply of coffee.

We needed it too because the temperature was dropping all the time. It’s going to be really cold.

And while Alison unlocked the cars, I watched in amazement as some woman on a bicycle with a baby on the back pulled out of the cycle track right across the main road in front of a couple of cars without giving a hand signal, without looking over her shoulder and without even slowing down.

I felt really sorry for the driver who almost squidged her

chateau robinson bois de la cambre brussels belgium eric hallWe came back to Leuven and Alison dropped me off on the corner.

I came back here and even though it was early, I made myself some tea. I hadn’t had anything to eat since breakfast.

Microwaved potatoes with a tin of spicy beans. And delicious it all was too.

chateau robinson bois de la cambre brussels belgium eric hallDespite only having walked 60% of my daily target, I was for some reason or other totally exhausted.

So there I was, flat-out on the bed for a good hour or so. I can’t keep on going like I used to.

What I’m going to be doing now is to do the washing up, tidy up and pack my bags. I have a very early start tomorrow so I need to be up and about quite promptly.

I don’t much like this idea of leaping on board the 08:13 out of Brussels but it saves me three hours on my day by the time that I’m back gome, so it has to be a good idea.

Saturday 24th August 2013 – I DID SOMETHING LAST NIGHT …

… that I haven’t done for years and years and years – and that was to crash out on the side of the road for a couple of hours durig a journey between Brussels and Pooh Corner. It wasn’t as if it was late either – not even 02:00 and I was only 2 hours away from home as well.

I know that I had a bad night’s sleep last night but that has never bothered me before either so I must be getting old, I reckon. It’s a depressing thought.

Anyway after saying goodbye to Esi I set off for home and straight into an enormous traffic jam in the Bois de la Cambre. There’s a show of some kind there this weekend – we saw them setting it up the other day – and it’s blocked all of the roads. In the end I gave up, did a U-turn and came out of the city on the other side by La Hulpe. But in the queue I was stopped alongside a couple of British builder-type guys and we had a chat – and one of the things they mentioned was that they wanted to buy Caliburn. “Buy Caliburn? You can’t do that – he’s part of the family” I told them.

Once on the motorway the journey was quite uneventful except at the péage. With it being the height of the tourist season and all kinds of foreigners on the road they are manned …“personned” – ed and the girl, having had a good look at Caliburn, charged me half the price of what the automatic system charges me. I shall have to look into this. THen off for fuel at Melun ad out on the other side until I fell asleep.

But no issues this morning and I was back here for 07:30. I’m not overgrown – Liz’s Agent Orange stuff has done the trick and there’s thick luxuriant grass now – and I’ve had a slow day of unpacking, repacking, crashing out and configuring my new computer. But here’s a thing – the ew one is more-or less the same as the old one but of the 500GB hard drive only 418GB is available as opposed to 451GB of the older hard drive. THat means the secret file space for recording all of your keystrokes has ow goe up to over 80GB – one sixth of the drive’s capacity. THis Government paranoia thing is getting completely out of hand.

Wednesday 21st August 2013 – Cécile’s car …

… is ow fully-loaded ready for the off ad by the time may of you read this (like tomorrow mornig) she ad her mum will be well on their way.

Caliburn is still fully-loaded but with a different load aboard. This morning we went off to deliver a table to a woman who had bought it over the internet. That freed up a good deal of space inside the van and with the dosh we went off to the Bois de la Cambre and the Chateau Robinson to spend our ill-gotten gains.

ferry chateau robinson lake bois de la cambreYou’ve see loads of photos of the Chateau Robinson, from my other visits there in the past and so that you kow that it’s on an island and reached by a ferry, such as the one in this photo, across the lake.

Even keener readers will recall that some time over Christmas 2011 I had a chat with none other than the present King of the Belgians, and if that little bit of shameless name-dropping doesn’t earn me any Brownie Points then there is no justice in this world.

cecile desmarest fabienne desmarest bois de la cambre brusselsCecile’s mum had never been on the ferry, of course, and as she is a keen boatsperson, she was quite enthusiastic about the trip, and who can blame her?

Back here, the apartment is even more empty as the divan and easy chair have disappeared inside Caliburn. Cécile is having them for her new house, wherever that may be.

And that is that. Things are winding down here. It won’t be long before I’m going as well.

Wednesday 14th August 2013 – YET ANOTHER MORNING …

… when I was up long before the alarm clock went off. I dunno what’s been happening to me just recently – it’s not as if I’ve wet the bed or anything.

So for an hour or two at least it was “full steam ahead” with adding these tags to my web pages and I really didn’t realise exacly how many pages there are. All this time and I’ve hardly scratched the surface.

What’s even more frightening is that I’ve realised just how many web pages are in the pipeline and how much I still have to write. I hope that my stay in Greece will be productive.

Once Cécile’s mum had woken up we sorted out all of the boxes here – Cécile has had a good look at all of the stuff that was in them. THen we attacked the kitchen, and the least said about that the better. I never realised just how much stuff there is in here – it’s amazing just how much useless rubbish one can accumulate.

The big wardrobe went today, that means that tomorrow we can all go shopping and buy some food. We might even be able to eat too.

And later on this evening we went for a long walk around the University grounds and somehow ended up at the Abbaye de la Bois de La Cambre, the abbey that is just down the road from here, sitting quietly in the sunset watching the fish and the ducks and the herons in the old fish pond.

Cécile’s mother, who has never been to Brussels before, is quite pleased with what she saw today. She might not be so pleased with what she might see tomorrow, because Cécile and I are going to empty the cellar.

And in other news, the much-maligned (and quite rightly so) FAW, the Football Association of Wales, has made a complete and utter U-turn and inviting not only Barry Town but also Llanelli FC to rejoin the Welsh Football League. I suppose that “it is better to learn wisdom late than never to learn it at all”, as Sherlock Holmes said in “The Man With The Twisted Lip”, but this sordid issue could have been resolved in the same fashion with just 5 seconds of goodwill and earned the FAW all kinds of applause, instead of having disputes, arguments, lies and Court Cases and even more vilification heaped upon the Football Association of Wales.

As long as the FAW continues to shoot itself in the foot, there is really no hope for Welsh football. It’s high time the FAW councillors got a grip or else that’s going to be another group of people stood up against the embankment in the Tir National up the road.

Sunday 1st January 2012 – HAPPY NEW YEAR …

… to all of my readers, but seeing as how we’ve already done the “Crewe Bus Station” story, I’ll not mention it again.

Except to say that limbo dancing was invented by a Scotsman trying to get into the toilets there without paying.

So having had a little Sunday lie-in, and a quick breakfast, our first stop was the church at the Abbaye de la Cambre again. Marianne is a practising Catholic so I keep on telling her that if she keeps on practising like this, one day she will be perfect.

She certainly deserves a sainthood or whatever it is that they give to heroes in the church, seeing as how she’s brave enough to risk all kinds of thunderbolts to drag me along. Organised religion is not my thing as you know, but when in Rome and all of that.

We had a nice walk in the Bois de la Cambre this afternoon and ended up going for a coffee. But I’ve also done another couple of hours on this book. With all of the practising that I’ve been doing on it, I ought to be perfect now too.

Later this evening, we went out.

There’s an Egyptian restaurant (I had actually thought that it was a Lebanese one) in the neighbourhood that does vegan food so I had booked a table there. No point last night because of what Marianne wanted to see on the TV of course.

That made quite a pleasant change – we had a very pleasant time and it does us good to break our routine up like this.

So tomorrow is my final day. A long way from being finished but I suppose that much of the time has been spent socialising.I don’t see enough of people as you know, and you lot are always telling me that I should get out more often.

I like Marianne very much but living here in Brussels and working this 09:00 – 18:00 routine is definitely not for me.

Tuesday 27th December 2011 – DAY TWO …

… of my mega-workathon, and Marianne is a hard taskmaster. She makes sure that I’m always hard at it, as well as working overtime on her book.

I’ve stopped for the occasional coffee, and stopped for lunch too, but I’ve put in a good crack at this book. And I think that having it finished in a week or so is being optimistic, to say the least, despite all of the preparation that I did at home before I came away.

After tea, we went for a walk in the park down the road for a breath of fresh air and that did us good. It was a fairly reasonable day for the time of year as it happens.

And then we settled down to watch another film that Marianne had bought me for Christmas. Le Petit Baigneur, another film of Louis de Funès.

It’s another one of those films that I can watch time and time again, and with a couple of scenes – the “church” scene and the running gag of the “launching of the Incrèvable (‘Unbreakable’)” scenes, I won’t ever tire of seeing those.

So now it’s bed time and an early night (if the noise in the street will let me). I need to be on top form if I’m going to do this work.

Sunday 24th July 2011 – THINGS TO DO …

… places to go, people to see. So I had better get a wiggle on as i don’t have much time.

This morning, I started off by emptying the garage downstairs and packing the contents into Caliburn. And it was all swept it out , done and (quite literally) dusted within 10 minutes. I didn’t hang about.

I finished off by having my final shower on the premises – I don’t want to dirty the place up any more than I have to. And then I cleared off and that was that.

marianne orban brussels belgium july juillet 2011I’d been invited for lunch round at Marianne’s, which was very nice of her. She cooks some really nice food and it’s a pleasure to go round there.

And after lunch we went for our usual walk around the lake in the Bois de la Cambre followed by a coffee at one of the cafés here. It wasn’t really a sunny summer bary, despite it being towards the end of July.

And it’s hard to believe that this is probably going to be the last time that I shall spend a pleasant, relaxing Sunday afternoon quite like this one.

Later that evening I cleared off and now I’m parked up on the lorry park behind the RTBF tower at Schaerbeek. The irony of this is that it was here that I spent the night the day before I signed to buy Expo. What a strange thought to remember.

Anyway, let’s see what happens tomorrow.

Sunday 17th July 2011 – NEXT MORNING …

… after a good lie-in (well, it IS Sunday!) and a leisurely breakfast, I drove round to Marianne’s for lunch, which was very nice of her to invite me.

bois de la cambre belgium july juillet 2011It was heavily overcast today just by way of a change, but it was reasonably warm and so in the afternoon after lunch we went for a walk in the Bois de la Cambre down the road.

It’s been a couple of years at least since I have been for a good perambulation in the park and there have been some considerable changes here in that time. They seem to have been spending their money quite considerably.

But the most important change is over here.

chateau robinson bois de la cambre belgium july juillet 2011The old pie hut on the island that burnt down a while ago has now been completely rebuild and is now a magnificent chalet – the Chateau Robinson – doubtless named for Robinson Crusoe.

Access out there is by a boat, which you can see mooed up to the quay just to the right of centre. It costs €1:00 to take the boat out there, and the return trip is free, which is just as well given the price of the coffee out there.

prince laurent chateau robinson bois de la cambre belgium july juillet 2011I would very much like to say that I took my coffee this afternoon with Price Laurent of the Belgians, and I bet that you are thinking that I’m joking too.

But far from it in fact.

Although he wasn’t acually sitting at my table, he was close enough – and he wasn’t surrounded by armed policemen and crowds of bodyguards either. Just out en famille for his Sunday afternoon cuppa.

Mind you, I bet that the two or three people at nearby tables who stood up discreetly to leave just as he was leaving “had some interest” in the matter.

Then Marianne came back with me to the flat, I dismantled the bed in Caliburn and Marianne helped me load the heavy stuff that was remaining.

We had a really long chat and what with it being Sunday we went out for pizza, seeing as how she had given me a useful hand. However we were sidetracked by a new restaurant advertising, would you believe, a Vegan section. And I had the most magnificent penne al arabiatta that I have ever eaten.

rue de la loi brussels belgium july juillet 2011Dropping her off, I was back on the road. The plan was to head home as rapidly as I could and go as far as I could before stopping for the night somewhere, but I was rather side-tracked.

I’d noticed once or twice over the course of the years that the Rue de la Loi in Brussels looks magnificent at night with all of the street lights and vehicles that flood the street.

One of the things that I had wanted to do was to take a few photos of the place before I left. So off I went, and took about half a dozen. Here’s one of them to titivate your palette

Having done that, Caliburn and I bounced happily all the way to near Auxerre where I crashed out for the night at some silly time of the early morning.

And wasn’t that uncomfortable? It seems that Bane of Britain had forgotten that he’d left his sleeping bag and pillow back at the apartment.

GRRRRRRRR!